Black Sabbath biography
Influence and innovation
Black Sabbath have influenced many acts including Iron Maiden, Slayer, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Anthrax, Disturbed, Opeth, Pantera, The Smashing Pumpkins, Slipknot, the Foo Fighters, Fear Factory, Candlemass, and Godsmack. Two gold selling tribute albums have been released,
Nativity in Black Volume 1 & 2, including covers by Sepultura, White Zombie, Type O Negative, Faith No More, Machine Head, Primus, System of a Down and Monster Magnet.
Metallica's Lars Ulrich, who, along with bandmate James Hetfield inducted Black Sabbath into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, said "Black Sabbath is and always will be synonymous with heavy metal", while Hetfield said "Sabbath got me started on all that evil-sounding shit, and it's stuck with me. Tony Iommi is the king of the heavy riff." Ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash said of the Paranoid album: "There's just something about that whole record that, when you're a kid and you're turned onto it, it's like a whole different world. It just opens up your mind to another dimension...Paranoid is the whole Sabbath experience; very indicative of what Sabbath meant at the time. Tony's playing style - doesn't matter whether it's off 'Paranoid' or if it's off 'Heaven and Hell' - it's very distinctive." Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford commented: "They were and still are a groundbreaking band..you can put on the first Black Sabbath album and it still sounds as fresh today as it did 30-odd years ago. And that's because great music has a timeless ability: To me, Sabbath are in the same league as the Beatles or Mozart. They're on the leading edge of something extraordinary." On Black Sabbath's standing, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello states: "The heaviest, scariest, coolest riffs and the apocalyptic Ozzy wail are without peer. You can hear the despair and menace of the working-class Birmingham streets they came from in every kick-ass, evil groove. Their arrival ground hippy, flower-power psychedelia to a pulp and set the standard for all heavy bands to come."
In addition to being pioneers of heavy metal, they also have been credited for laying the foundations for heavy metal subgenres thrash metal, stoner rock, sludge metal,
Toni Iommi has also been credited as the pioneer of lighter gauge strings settings as the tips of his fingers were severed in a steel factory, and while he was using thimbles (artificial finger tips) he found that standard guitar strings were too difficult to bend and play, so he went to his local music instrument store and there was only one size of strings available. After years with Sabbath he had strings custom made and guitarists around the world soon wanted their own.
Culturally, Black Sabbath have exerted a huge influence in both television and literature and have in many cases become synonymous with heavy metal. In the film Almost Famous, Lester Bangs gives the protagonist an assignment to cover the band (plot point one) with the immortal line: 'Give me 500 words on Black Sabbath'. Contemporary music and arts publication Trebuchet Magazine has put this to practice by asking all new writers to write a short piece (500 words) on Black Sabbath as a means of proving their creativity and voice on a well documented subject.
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